Wellingborough's Olympic ski star proud as he completes slalom when others crashed

Wellingborough' s Winter Olympic superstar skier Benjamin Alexander made history as Jamaica's first ever competitor at the games in an alpine event.

The former DJ, who attended All Saints Primary School, Wellingborough School and Northampton College, competed for his dad Keith's country of birth yesterday (February 13) in China.

Benjamin finished 46th out of the 46 skiers to complete both runs of the course - with many more experienced racers falling in the blizzard conditions.

The 38-year-old finished ahead of the 41 names on the start list who were unable to finish in the tricky conditions on the 'Ice River' course at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre.

Crossing the finishing line in three minutes 18.52 seconds Mr Alexander said: "Freakin' hell - that was hard."

Benjamin's time was one minute 10 seconds behind Swiss gold medallist Marco Odermatt and 32 seconds behind the next slowest finisher, India's Mohammad Arif Khan.

Trying to keep up with the latest news on their pioneering son were Ann and Keith Alexander, Benjamin's mum and dad, who got up at 2.30am to watch the broadcast.

Ann said: "We were recording it but got up to watch it live but because there were so many crashes they switched to the curling. We didn't see him race.

"When he phoned me I told him we missed it - he said he could hear how disappointed we were. He said the race was really hard - he's not used to hard work, everything comes so easy to him. I am so proud - he really has achieved something.

"He set out to do what he had to do. He came last but he got down without breaking anything. He should be proud of himself."

Former two-time GB Winter Olympian and TV pundit Aimee Fuller marvelled at Benjamin's achievement.

Speaking on the BBC she said: "It is so fantastic. For him to go out there it is so good. I have so much respect for him - it was incredibly challenging."

Only 14 athletes have competed for Jamaica from three sports at a Winter Olympics, the most famous of those being the 1988 bobsleigh team immortalised by the film Cool Runnings. Dudley Stokes, a member of that Jamaican bobsleigh team became his inspiration and mentor.

Benjamin only took up skiing six years ago and was determined to fulfil his Olympic dream after visiting the last games. He carried the Jamaican flag into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony.Taking up an intensive training regime he scored a series of four career-best results at races in Liechtenstein in the final days of qualifying in January 2022 to win his place at Beijing.

Now Benjamin will return to the USA to take up a role as champion and advocate for US-based SOS Outreach Youth.

SOS Outreach has introduced more than 80,000 young people to skiing and snowboarding alongside developing their leadership skills and promoting social-emotional learning.

Benjamin said: “It is an absolute honour to be supporting SOS Outreach, and to be actively supporting the youth programme. I’m an example that no ‘dream’ is impossible, put your mind to something, work hard and those dreams can become a reality.”

When Benjamin pops back to Wellingborough his mum is planning a big celebratory party with one of her special cakes.

She added: "I'll try to make him a special cake on with skis on top."